Accused residing outside Jurisdiction of court-procedure to issue process against accused

It was revealed that the applicants,

who are the accused in the said case, are residing beyond the area in which
the learned Magistrate exercises his jurisdiction. It also became clear that
the process came to be issued against the applicants only on the basis of
the statement of the respondent recorded on oath, in accordance with the
provisions of Section 200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [For
short, "the Code"].
It is now well settled that, in a case where an accused is a resident of
a place beyond the area in which the Magistrate exercises his jurisdiction,

the learned Magistrate must hold an inquiry into the matter or direct an
investigation to be made into it, for the purpose of deciding whether, or
It has been held that,
not, there is sufficient ground for proceeding.
holding of such inquiry or directing investigation in such a case is
obligatory and without holding such inquiry or considering the result of
such investigation, the Magistrate cannot decide on sufficiency or
otherwise of the grounds for proceeding.



Criminal Application No. 3037 of 2012

1. Anil s/o. Hiroji Ulemale,

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY,
AURANGABAD BENCH, AT AURANGABAD.
3. Sau. Sandhya w/o. Ashok Patil,

CORAM : ABHAY M. THIPSAY, J.

Citation 2014 ALLMR(CRI)989


Rule.
By consent, Rule made returnable forthwith.
By
consent, heard finally.
3.
By this Application, the applicants, who are the accused in
S.T.C. No. 1355/2012, pending before the Chief Judicial Magistrate,
Ahmednagar, are challenging the order issuing process against them, as
passed by the Magistrate on 4-5-2012. The said case arises on a complaint
filed by the respondent herein.
4.
Though a number of contentions have been raised in the
Application, the substance of which is that, there were no grounds for
proceeding, in the course of hearing, it was revealed that the applicants,

who are the accused in the said case, are residing beyond the area in which
the learned Magistrate exercises his jurisdiction. It also became clear that
the process came to be issued against the applicants only on the basis of
the statement of the respondent recorded on oath, in accordance with the
provisions of Section 200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 [For
short, "the Code"].
It is now well settled that, in a case where an accused is a resident of
a place beyond the area in which the Magistrate exercises his jurisdiction,

the learned Magistrate must hold an inquiry into the matter or direct an
investigation to be made into it, for the purpose of deciding whether, or
It has been held that,
not, there is sufficient ground for proceeding.
holding of such inquiry or directing investigation in such a case is
obligatory and without holding such inquiry or considering the result of
such investigation, the Magistrate cannot decide on sufficiency or
otherwise of the grounds for proceeding.
5.
Since, in this case, the learned Magistrate has concluded
about the existence of sufficient ground for proceeding against the
applicants, without holding any such inquiry or directing investigation, as
is contemplated under Section 202 of the Code, the order issuing process
cannot be said to be legal or proper. The same is, therefore, required to be
set aside.
6.
The Application is partly allowed. The order issuing process
is quashed and set aside.

The learned Magistrate shall hold further inquiry into the matter or
direct investigation into the matter, as contemplated under Section 202 of
the Code, and then decide whether, or not, there is sufficient ground for
proceeding. Needless to say that, after forming an opinion in this regard,
the Magistrate shall proceed further in accordance with law.
7.
The Criminal Application is disposed of in the aforesaid
terms. Rule is made absolute accordingly.

( ABHAY M. THIPSAY )
JUDGE